Shyam Saran, first voter of Independent India, casts his postal ballot for Himachal polls: 106-year-old Shyam Saran Negi, the first voter of independent India, exercised his right to franchise for the 34th time through postal ballot for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections at his residence in Kinnaur district. Negi, a teacher by profession from Kinnaur, a tribal district in Himachal Pradesh, exercised his right to franchise for the 34th time for the 14th Assembly polls through postal ballot at his home in Kalpa. They voted by postal vote for the first time.
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Interesting fact to know:
- Born in July 1917, Shyam Saran Negi voted for the first time in the general elections of India in 1951 and has voted sixteen times in the Lok Sabha elections. He cast his vote in every Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha and all local bodies right after 1951. He has also been made a state election icon in 2014.
- Popularly known as Master Shyam Saran, the centenarian has voted in every election since 1951 and has never missed an opportunity to vote. After casting his vote, Negi said that every citizen should vote for strengthening the democratic set-up.
- Negi was brought to the booth on the red carpet where he exercised his franchise rights and soon after his vote was sealed in an envelope and dropped into the ballot box. Sadiq along with the returning officer cum SDM Kalpa, Major (retd) Shashank Gupta and the other officers and officials of the district administration honoured the first voter of Independent India.
- Meanwhile, 5,093 people voted by postal ballot in Himachal Pradesh for the Assembly elections. Voting by postal ballot commenced on November 1 and will be completed before November 11.
